CoW has plans to address money matters

While the municipality has a strategy to alleviate its cash crunch, the city's accountant does not want to share how.
Ogone Tlhage
    - 2022-07-27 09:29:00
The Windhoek municipality’s (CoW) accountant says the city’s bus service and police department, which is currently operating at a loss, should not be seen in isolation, but rather as part of overall service delivery functions.
So said Samuel Mutonga in response to the municipality’s financial woes which, according to Jürgen Hecht of the Independent Patriots for Change (IPC), is in a deplorable state. According to Mutonga, the CoW’s strategy on how to solve its financial problems will be disclosed to residents in due course.
“We must not look at these as isolated cases, but as part of overall services provided to residents,” Mutonga said.
He said that as one of the initiatives on the way forward, the CoW is going to focus on working more responsibly with its finances.
“We are dealing with employees who have permanent contracts with the council. The options currently being considered cannot be shared, but we are looking at the financial stability of the city,” Mutonga said.
During a media conference held by fellow council member Ndeshihafela Larandja, Hecht revealed the state of the city’s finances, saying its bus services department suffered a loss of N$70 million while the City Police's budget of N$230 million was unaffordable.
Major losses
“We are making a loss of N$70 million in our bus services department. We currently employ 50 bus drivers who all earn around N$50 000 monthly, or N$600 000 per year. Only a certain number of these bus drivers work full-time, because about 20 of these 50 are available for work on a standby basis,” he said.
The City Police is also unaffordable, Hecht said, emphasising that this department must be realigned with the Namibian police (Nampol).
“The salaries budgeted for this new financial year for the City Police are N$230 million - 90% of its entire cost structure. We cannot afford it in our current financial predicament.”
The City Police force currently employs 440 officers, Hecht said.
“The fact is, some of the City Police and Nampol's services overlap, and this needs to be reviewed.”
City Police officers also earn twice as much as their counterparts of similar rank in Nampol, the councillor said.